The flat tax is an often-proposed alternative to progressive income tax. With minimal deductions and exceptions for low-income earners, everyone pays the same tax percentage regardless of income level. Thirty-seven countries presently have flat tax systems, with their tax rates ranging from 10% – 30%. The only major world power in this group is Russia.Wikopedia, “Flat Tax”

Benefits of a Progressive Income Tax include:

Takes the most money from those who can most afford to pay

Offers low-income earners an opportunity to save

Problems with Progressive Income Tax include:

Unfairly punishes high-income earners

Discourages economic growth

Easily exploited: $458 billion in annual revenue is lost due to cheating

Complicated: The current IRS Tax Code has 74,608 pages and uses 500 different tax forms

The income tax provision in the Constitution was not established to correct social inequities, but to simply raise the money needed to operate the federal government. Support for our current income tax system comes not from those who believe in its effectiveness, but from those who feel it’s morally acceptable to take a higher percentage in taxes from those who earn more. That rationale does not justify maintaining our long-failing, progressive system.

A flat tax would offer tax breaks to the poor, but would also eliminate disproportionately punishing successful individuals and corporations who create jobs and build the economy. The Laffer Curve economic theory has shown that lowering tax rates on high income earners increases business productivity and improves the economic position of all income levels, thus benefiting the country as a whole.

A flat tax should be tried because its potential benefits far outweigh its possible risks. If a flat tax did not raise sufficient revenue to support the federal government, Congress could return to the progressive system, or reduce the government’s size and cost.